Nikhil Gupta ’26 first became curious about music and theater when then Middle School music teacher Liz Beckman encouraged him to audition for the eighth grade musical at Roland Park Country School. “I wasn’t really interested,” Gupta said, but he ended up participating in that production and really enjoyed it. That spring, after he attended “Bright Star” put on by Gilman’s Upper School, he knew he wanted to make theater one of his extracurricular activities.

Now a senior, he has performed in several shows throughout his Upper School career: Gilman’s productions of “Into the Woods,” “Matchmaker,” “Something Rotten,” “The Importance of Being Earnest,” and “Merrily We Roll Along.” He also took part in “Little Women” and “Chicago” at The Bryn Mawr School; it was there that he worked with Todd Twining, Bryn Mawr’s music teacher Twining eventually moved on from Bryn Mawr to a school in Florida — but he never forgot Gupta. A colleague from his school, and Director of the Infinity Repertory Theatre Company, Paul Perez, was working on writing, directing, and producing his own musical titled “An Idiot’s Guide to Breaking Your Own Heart” in the spring of 2025. When Perez shared that the male lead had dropped out of his show, Twining remembered a certain talented student from Gilman.

The 50-minute production was to showcase at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland in August, an international, multi-week, multi-venue art celebration that Perez had visited many times. Gupta said the opportunity sounded “better than a summer internship” and he jumped at the offer. But before he headed to Florida for the two-week rehearsal period in July — and before the script and songs had been fully written — Perez sadly and unexpectedly passed away.

Devastated by the loss, cancellation seemed like the only option. But as they say, the show must go on. So in memory of the beloved teacher, Twining finished what Perez had started. He completed the script and the songs and took over as director. And with the help and support of everyone involved, the show went on.

Gupta, along with his five castmates and Twining, traveled to Edinburgh for the show’s debut at Greenside @ Riddle’s Court, located along Edinburgh’s most famous street, the Royal Mile. “The beautiful thing about the event,” Gupta said, “is that the entire city is focused on producing shows, on producing art.” The group performed the show eight times to audiences in the historic theater; before each performance, they handed out flyers outside to passersby, a grassroots ticket sale effort.

He said the people involved in productions at the Fringe not only want to do art themselves but also want to share with and learn from others. “It’s a very friendly, arts-driven community.” He went on to say, “Everyone in the theater community is so supportive,” noting that some of his closest friendships were developed on the stage of the Alumni Auditorium.

Although Gupta doesn’t plan to make theater his main focus of study in the future, he will “100% continue to perform in college” and would even love to bring his own show to the Fringe one day. “I can’t imagine not having a creative outlet like that.”